Sunday, August 31, 2008

more on Palin

The debate over Gov. Sarah Palin has devolved into something very typical -- jokes about her relative inexperience, followed up by righteous indignation over the "condescension" being shown towards her. Both sides are missing the real point.

We voters simply do not -- and will not -- know enough about Governor Palin by election day to make an informed decision about her.

By choosing a candidate with no public record on any foreign policy issues and most domestic policies, McCain has insulated his campaign from any attacks on his Vice Presidential ideology. Palin is known purely for her positions on Alaskan issues and a few cultural issues she has decided to become known for.

Now that she's the VP nominee, Palin will just assume all of John McCain's positions on foreign and domestic policies. It's what a VP candidate always does. But in this case, when she has never been asked to express her opinions or her thinking behind those views, we're left with a terrifying national scenario -- if John McCain were to die shortly after taking office, we would elevate someone to the Presidency who could be in support of anything ... fill in the blank.

If the McCain campaign is being truthful and did in fact vet Palin fully, then they are guilty of hiding Palin. Unlike other longshot candidates like Bobby Jindal, she was kept off the campaign trail and away from the Sunday talk circuit. What they've done is taken the well-developed GOP strategy for Supreme Court justices ... drop them into Circuit Court slots shortly before tapping them for the top job ... to avoid a paper trail which could cause a public backlash...